For decades, automakers have been designing cars to look like they have faces. Headlights resemble eyes, grilles look like mouths, and the shape of a hood can give a vehicle something resembling an expression. That is, of course, no accident. Designers have long played on our tendency to see human features in inanimate objects, giving sports cars aggressive scowls and family-friendly vehicles softer, more approachable expressions. The idea is to make us feel something about a car before we ever get behind the wheel. The Lamborghini designer Mitja Borkert said you want to find a “character” on the front of your vehicle. 

But until recently, those expressions were essentially frozen in place. Last month, during a test ride in a new vehicle called Chip, I encountered something different: a car that actually smiled at me and said hello. Its headlights even blinked.

I was riding around Los Angeles in October in a slender, souped-up lavender minicar called Chip, namesake product of the Miami-based startup Chip Motors, which was founded in 2024. The reactive facial expressions and voice feature for the vehicle—still being finalized for delivery to customers starting in the second half of 2027—underscore the idea that this six-seater, which tops out at about 25 miles per hour, offers a different take on what the American family wants out of an everyday vehicle. 

Taking an hourlong spin around Venice Beach, past the Washington Street Pier and over the famous canals, the ride was certainly leisurely. Cars kept passing us as we slowly ambled toward the Pacific Ocean, and it felt and looked like riding a golf cart.

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